Hip Hop

Are you looking for some new sounds that talk about real world issues? Zaena x Jason Maek’s latest music video for their song ‘Get You Right’ that was just released recently. This feel-good hip hop anthem reflects on life in inner city Chicago, police brutality, our current political climate, and student debt. As you know, Zaena x Jason Maek are LGBTQIA activists and currently on their sold out 30-city tour titled ‘The Freshman Tour’.

Directed by Jason Maek, the high-energy visual for this hip-hop/house track features a young Zaena and Jason as they reflect on what life is like growing up in the inner windy city. The duo shares stories of attending weekend dance parties at landmarks like ‘The Rink’, catching the redline, and features clips of the first Harold’s Chicken restaurant. The video also pays homage to the Chicago rooted dance trend called ‘foot working’. The song and video also tackle several other prominent issues such as police brutality, our current political climate, and student debt. Zaena, a Libyan refugee, compares life in her homeland to her experience in America with the line, “Our countries are like day and night, some nights I don’t belong here. We both suffer from gang fights. F**k people because they don’t care.”

“Although my family moved here for a better life, America still suffers from many problems my homeland currently experiences ranging from political corruption to police brutality”, explains Zaena. “It was important for me to point that in hopes to start a conversation to create change.” According to Jason Maek, “this song and visual are both fun and insightful. Most people only hear about the negatives of inner city Chicago culture. Zaena and I wanted to remind the world that there are a lot of amazing bright spots as well.” Check out the visuals below

Get You Right’ is a high energy hip-hop/house track that reflects on life in inner-city Chicago, police brutality, our current political climate, and student debt.

Eazy E is known by many as the Godfather of Gangsta Rap. Unfortunately, he passed away on March 30, 1995 due to complications of the AIDS virus. Before all that, we know he formed one of, if not the greatest hip hop group of all-time, NWA. Ice Cube eventually left the group, recorded a diss track and Dr. Dre also parted ways with Eazy E. After joining Death Row, Dr. Dre released his classic album, The Chronic where took shots at Eazy E. Eazy E responded by dropping his second EP, It’s On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa. It became Eazy E’s most successful album by quickly going double platinum in 1994. The album was a diss to Dr. Dre, plus he included some jabs at Snoop Dogg. The most talked about track on the album was Real Muthaphuckkin G’s featuring B.G. Knocc Out and Dresta.

Honestly, this wasn’t the best work from Eazy E, but off the strength of the Dr. Dre disses, it serves its purpose. This would be the final album E would drop while he was alive. With his tragic passing, we didn’t get the chance to see the reunion of NWA. Years later, the group received the recognition they deserved as their movie, Straight Outta Compton did amazing box office numbers. As we all know, Straight Outta Compton was a movie about NWA which is also the title of their debut album. Check out the second EP dropped 25 years ago by the late, great Eazy E.

Ludacris dropped his 3rd album, Chicken N Beer 15 years ago today. This was the follow-up to my Ludacris album, Word of Mouf. Chicken N Beer almost went gold the first week after selling over 429,000 copies. Snoop Dogg, 8Ball & MJG, Lil’ Flip, Chingy, Carl Thomas, Playaz Circle and a few others. Ludacris has always been that MC that loves to have fun. With that mentality and his fun-loving ways, people tend not to take him seriously. Ludacris is one of the more underappreciated and underrated rappers ever in my opinion. Less than two months before the album dropped, Ludacris released Stand Up. Stand Up was typically Ludacris with him having fun in the video. With all the crazy antics in the video, Ludacris came through with the witty and clever lines.

About a week before Chicken N Beer hit the stores, Ludacris dropped Blow It Out. The video was a combination of the Southern Fried Intro track and Blow It Out. During this time, Bill O’Reilly and Ludacris had a little beef going on so Ludacris tossed a line his way. Ludacris also have a remix of Blow It Out with none other than 50 Cent. With the singles, Splash Waterfalls and Diamond in the Back dropping the following year Chicken N Beer went double platinum. Ludacris also released a remix to Splash Waterfalls, which is as smooth as the original featuring Raphael Saadiq. If you’re a Ludacris fan, then you know that he’ll always have some hilarious skits. This album is no different as he delivers some crazy and funny skits. Production for Chicken N Beer was mostly handled by Kanye West, Mo B. Dick, DJ Paul, Juicy J and Ludacris himself.

This is my favorite Ludacris album after Word of Mouf as most of the tracks stand out. Only tracks that didn’t do it for me is P-Poppin and Teamwork. Below is the track listing and also where you can listen to it under that.

As promised last week, Dave East and Styles P deliver their much-anticipated joint project. Beloved contain 13 tracks and on the final one, we have the Lox reuniting for Load My Gun. They both dropped projects earlier in the year. Styles P released his G-Host album and Dave East dropped Karma 2. With Dave East representing Harlem and Styles P being from Yonkers, let’s see what these spitters have for us. Let’s peep the track list below as well as the stream link.

Jay-Z has done it all in the rap game and in the board room. After releasing his classic debut, Reasonable Doubt Jay-Z returned with In My Lifetime Volume 1. We now have his third album, Hard Knock Life Volume 2 which propelled Jay-Z into superstardom. The album went on to sell over 5 million records and introduced the world to Ja Rule. Can I Get A was the first single off the album and the bouncy track featured Amil and Ja Rule. The track also appeared on the Rush Hour Soundtrack, which helped boost the song and album. The track instantly had everyone anticipating the album. In the process, it created a star in Ja Rule who went on to become a star himself. Hard Knock Life went on to sell over 350,000 copies in the first week of its release.

A few weeks after the release of the album, Jay-Z released the title track as his second single. Can I Get A was poppin in the clubs and everyone’s whips back then. With Hard Knock Life, the wordplay, lyrics and storytelling were on another level. What really got the song going were the kids singing the chorus, of course. Hard Knock Life has been called one of the best hip hop tracks ever and I won’t argue that. A few weeks later, Jay-Z released another single and it featured DMX. By now, DMX was a huge star himself after the success of his debut album, It’s Dark and Hell is Hot. The track was produced by Swizz Beatz and the title tells you everything you need to know about the record.

Besides Ja Rule and DMX, Jay-Z featured a plethora of artists. The Lox, Too Short, Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, Foxy Brown and his mentor, Big Jaz appear. When it comes to the discography of Jay-Z, this is probably my 6th favorite album of his. If I Should Die, A Week Ago, Nigga What Nigga Who, Reservoir Dogs, It’s Alright and Money Ain’t a Thang are other top tracks. Check out the tracklisting and stream below.